Richard Johnson photo by Farnaz Taherimotlagh. Pappy on da Underground Railroad R. Pikser The Gene Frankel Theater is what used to be called a black box. A few seats, minimal performance space, a piano, and good lighting in what used to be an inexpensive part of town, allowed performers to hone their…
Len Cariou photos by Caro Rosegg By Julia Polinsky With Broadway and the Bard, Len Cariou, Mark Janas, and Barry Kleinbort, (who also directed) have conceived an evening of show tunes married to Shakespeare’s poetry. Janas, whose masterful accompaniments contribute hugely to Broadway and the Bard, plays a beautiful intro. Then, Cariou declaims…
EMMA MEAD by Julia Polinsky Once the Hollywood machine gets hold of something like the Brothers Grimm or Hans Christian Anderson, or, in this case, the Oz books, it’s easy for us to forget how dark children’s stories are. How they come from spaces of loss and fear. Tales of orphaned or abandoned…
Hilly Bodin as Snow White and Courtney Giannone as The Prince By Edward Rubin The ad campaign for Company XIV’s production of Snow White at the Minetta Lane Theatre inspired by the Brothers Grimm’s fairy tale that we all grew up knowing – is being sold as an adult version of the folk tale, reflected…
By Eugene Paul As measured by the money meter, a palpable hit. “Who’s that?” my companion whispered, nudging sideways with her chin as the gorgeous, gorgeous creature squeezed by smiling apologetically. I nodded. “Yes, it is. And look over there.” She slid her eyes four seats over. Her eyebrows went up. I nodded, then…
Jeffrey C. Wolf photos by Matthew Dunivan By Marc Miller Back in ancient history, when there were just three networks, everybody got their news from middle-of-the-road Huntley-Brinkley or Walter Cronkite or Harry Reasoner, and extremism was less extreme. Now political zealots dwell within their bubbles of Fox News or MSNBC, and the…
By Julia Polinsky Director Sean Daniels has paced I and You is if it were dishing out social-media instant information, and the two actors who play the high school students blitz through their dialogue at warp speed. That speed may be appropriate for teenagers, but it serves the story badly. All the clues are…
Danny Burstein Fiddler on the Roof by Eugene Paul One of the greatest musicals in theatre history and one of the most appealing. Bring tissues. It says, “Anatevka”. We work out the worn Russian letters on the sign as we wait for the show to begin. A man walks on the stage? …
A Review by Deirdre Donovan Teaser: Kecia Lewis resurrects Brecht’s iconic character with gutsiness and daring at the Classic Stage Company. “Still tough as nails, I see; but that’s what I like about you.” The Cook’s words to Mother Courage in a late scene in Bertolt Brecht’s Mother Courage and Her Children might well apply…
Jeremy Shamos, Kate Jennings Grant, David Furr, Andrea Martin & Campbell Scott By Michall Jeffers Andrea Martin is an actor who can do no wrong. So it comes as no surprise that in Noises Off, she effortlessly leads the company to glorious comic heights, and the audience to a fevered pitch of laugh out…